The present invention relates to a wrap spring clutch. The wrap spring clutch is variably controlled to provide a variable speed output.
A wrap spring clutch is a well-known mechanism for alternately transferring rotation from an input rotation source to some output and then detaching the source of input rotation from the output. Essentially, the wrap spring clutch includes an input, and an output with a wrap spring coupled between them. The wrap spring is wrapped open or wrapped down to alternatively connect and disconnect the input to the output, thereby engaging and disengaging the clutch. Typically, when the clutch is engaged the output rotates with the input rotational speed and is dependant on the input speed. It would be useful to have a simple wrap spring clutch design with an output rate of rotation that can be controlled independent of the rate of input rotation.